U2’s ‘Songs Of Experience’ Forecast To Debut Atop Billboard 200 Chart

by Erica Banas

U2 has plenty of experience being No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart, and it looks like the group's new Songs Of Experience will be part of that.

Billboard reports that early indications say the Irish quartet is on track for its eighth No. 1 album with Songs Of Experience, which came out Friday (December 1). Using its "multi-metric consumption" -- a fancy term for a combination of physical and download sales and streams -- Billboard projects the album could sell as many as 170,000 copies.

The week's charts will be revealed on Sunday (December 10).

U2 last topped the Billboard 200 with 2009's No Line On The Horizon and also hit No. 1 with The Joshua Tree in 1987, Rattle And Hum (1988), Achtung Baby (1991), Zooropa (1993), Pop (1997) and How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb (2004). Its last album, 2014's Songs Of Experience, was initially ineligible for the charts because it was given away for free via iTunes; When it was offered for sale five weeks later it peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard 200.

U2 begins touring to promote Songs Of Experience on May 2 in Tulsa, Okla.

Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.